Promising
by Aerilon452
Summary: Belle spies on Rumplestiltskin and Regina. ONE SHOT. COMPLETE.


Summary**:** Belle listens in on Regina and Rumple.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Once Upon A Time.

Rating: T+

Pairing: Belle and Rumplestiltskin

**PROMISING:**

Belle knew she should've been cleaning, but she was drawn by the sound of Rumplestiltskin's voice and the voice of a woman. To be quiet she slipped off her shoes and then crept out of the main hall where she had been reading while he had been spinning. She hid behind a pillar where she could see a peasant woman talking to him and he was clearly aggravating her like he did with everyone. The thought made her giggle and he looked right at her. Belle jumped thinking she had been well hidden. After all he was Rumplestiltskin.

Rumple knew Belle was watching. Lately whenever she was around his body knew it. It was an odd sensation that he had come to rely on her to map her movements around the Castle. It had only been a few short weeks since the incident in Sherwood Forest, but he knew his demeanor towards her had changed. It wasn't any one thing that she had done, but they certainly helped. One of them had been when she had referred to this Castle as her home, and then she hugged him when he lied about missing, and she knew it was a lie. Belle cosntantly astounded him. Her smile. Her innate goodness was infecting him, and he was powerless to stop it. Did he want to? No, he really didn't, even though he knew she was changing him; slowly. Thinking about Belle allowed him to tune out Regina as she was ranting about how she would end Snow White. It was becoming the same sad song over and over. "That's nice dearie," He bit out colored with madness. "Now that you are the Queen, excuse me, the Evil Queen, again, I think you should take yourself back to your Castle and work on you ultimate plan to end Snow. I have things to do."

"So eager to get rid of me? Why Rumple, are you going to go play with the 'Promising" maid you told me about?" Regina snickered darkly.

"No deaire, I have places to be and Deals to make. You, sadly, are cutting in my schedule." Rumple replied with heavy sarcasm. "I've indulged enough for one day." He motioned her to leave with a grand flourish of his hands.

Belle heard his excuse knowing that his patience could wear rather thin very quickly. As silently as she could she stole herself back to the main hall to curl up in the chair she had occupied next to his spindle to try and give off an air that she hadn't just seen him with another woman. Belle wasn't sure how she should feel about it. There was no warmth in his voice when he talked to her, but there was something? Fondness maybe? Belle wasn't sure and she was uncertain as to why it bothered her. Curling in against the arm rest of the chair Belle picked up her book and forced herself to start reading again.

Rumple used his magic to appear in the great hall. Belle was in her chair, seemingly to have not moved, but he knew better. She had been watching him. He strode over to her, braced his hands on the arms of the chair and said, "Fancy yourself a spy my dear?" He teased when red flushed her cheeks. Belle refused to look at him. Taking his hand he tipped her chin up to look at him and a shudder ran through her at his touch. Rumple felt it. He didn't understand it but he didn't take is hand from her.

"No," Belle answered lightly, a gasp betraying her. his touch shouldn't feel so good to her skin. Except, it did. Just the feeling of his skin to hers made her mind think of others things. Did he ever crave the intimate touch of another? 'Where did that come from?' She thought. He was Rumplestiltskin. He was the Dark One. What could a girl like her hoped to bring to a man like him?

"Really?" Rumple asked giving her a small smile to put her at ease, "Well, you did very well. The Evil Queen didn't even know you were there dearie." He praised her for being nosey. What was he doing? She had spied on him. He should put her back in the dungeon. Rumple was teasing her and smiling at her. "Though, you need to be better so I don't know you're there next time." Why was he encouraging her? He liked to teach. It was a flaw that he indulged when he could.

"You want me to be clever?" Belle asked with a giggle escaping her. He was an odd man that was for sure. Rumplstiltskin was letting her get away with spying on him. Any minute she had expected to be thrown back into the dungeon where he had been so fond of keeping her until they had returned from Sherwood Forest. After that he had given her a regular room that faced the rising sun every morning. He was trying to make her life here more tolerable. "Are you serious?"

Rumple cocked his head to the side, "You already are clever," Again he praised. "But you need to be sneaky to the point I have no idea where you are." he should move back from her. He as breathing her in to the point she filled his lungs and dizzied his mind. "I can teach you if you want?" He offered. Rumple wasn't offering to teach her magic, but stealth. That was a different trait that didn't rely on magic. It required grace. Belle was nothing if not the most graceful creature he had ever had the privilege to lay eyes upon.

Belle pressed back into the chair. "I don't want to learn magic." She said and saw a flash of amusement in his eyes. "But that's not what you're offering is it?"

"Not at all dearie. I'm offering to teach you a skill that you may find useful one day. Magic is not what you need." Rumple said moving a fraction of an inch closer to her. He was drawn by her scent that seemed to have changed since she had come here. She smelled of roses and a mixture of the wild magic that flowed around him. The two scents had joined and mingled around her until they were branded to Belle's whole being. It was slowly enslaving him.

"What do I have to do?' Belle asked suddenly feeling bold. She moved forward instead of back putting her face dangerously close to him. "I want to know what you can teach me." Belle was forever taken in by knowledge. She would be the eternal student. Accepting Rumplestiltskin's deal as she had she had learned courage and sacrifice. Now she was being offered a chance to learn something new. A devilish light came to her keepers eyes and for a few seconds she wondered if this was a good idea. Rumplestiltskin was a man of tricks, or so she had heard from the various shouts and screams she had heard lobbed at him in the few months she had been here.

Rumple pulled back lest he get even more ensnared in her alluring scent than he already was. "First, a change of clothes," Belle had no time to argue. With a wave of his hand she was in warm black leather pants that molded a little too well to her legs, a silk shirt of midnight blue, and a vest of pure crimson that made her blue eyes glow and her skin seem as pale as the moon. Another wave of his hand had her hair twisting and twining into an intricate braid that fell down the middle of her back. Last, but not least he conjured boots that came to her knees, flat heel, but they were a dead ringer for the ones he wore. 'Oh, I love magic,' Rumple thought with a dark smirk gracing his lips.

Belle stood and looked down at her appearance, "I look like you." She stated. She turned and then, with his magic, was the full mirror from her bedroom. And then she watched as his crimson smoke surrounded her hands bringing black gloves to rest against her skin. "I'm not some doll you can dress up you know." she played at being annoyed that he had changed her clothes. "I can't believe you dressed me to look like you." She placed her hands on her hips delighting in the sinful way the leather on her legs moved with her. If she wasn't careful she would become accustomed to this feeling and the look.

"Why wouldn't I dress you like me?" Rumple asked. "I dress fabulously." He informed with his tell tale maniacal giggle dancing on the air around them. Belle could only attempt to suppress a giggle of her own. He liked the way her shoulders shook from the effort, the way her cheeks turned a rosy hue. Rumple liked when he could make her smile. If he had the option he would stand here and admire the way she looked all day.

Belle shook her head trying to mask the fact she was having trouble breathing. He was standing so close behind her. If only he would just reach out, wrap his arms around her waist, Belle would delight in wearing clothes like his more. She could imagine him running his hands over her hips, up her stomach, and on up to cup her through the confining leather vest. Belle actually gasped from the thought alone. 'Oh gods...' She thought. 'Could he read this in my eyes?' Part of her wanted him to know what she was thinking and then part of her was scared to let on that she was coming to like him, coming to want him. Lately her dreams had been filled with him and him alone.

Rumple crooked his finger over her shoulder so that Belle's reflection could see his gesture. Then, whispering close to her ear, he said, "Follow me." It as wicked of him he knew, but the way she shuddered at his voice made it all worthwhile. "I have a room just for you." He cackled turning to walk out of the main hall.

"We're going to walk?" Belle asked stunned to watch him walking away from her while trying to keep her eyes from falling away from the back of is head. But she failed terribly. Her eyes drifted down his shoulders, over his back, and past his waist to watch the way the leather of his pants cupped and molded to his skin. Her heart was instantly in her throat. He wore those pants like a second skin. He was made for them. Belle actually licked her lips at the sight of him

Rumple turned to look at her as she still stood by the mirror, "What are you staring at? He inquired confusion filling him this time. From where he stood it looked as if she was staring at the floor. "Belle?" Rumple snapped his fingers to gain her attention. She jumped at the sudden sharp sound.

"What?" She gasped and turned crimson at the thought of being caught staring at him. "Sorry, I thought there were still chores I had to do." She lied and hoped he didn't pick up on it.

"Yes," Rumple shook his head, "We're walking. You have to get a feel for the clothes." He chuckled as he watched her walk towards him. The clothes he had chosen fit her perfectly; a little too well perhaps. Rumple made the effort not to stare at her too hard. The leather of the pants and the boots didn't creek or groan as she moved. Instead they had molded to her legs perfectly almost giving off the air of her having a second skin. While he was thinking about it, he muttered and enchantment that would bind to the clothing she wore to protect her from harm. What he was going to teach her had some inherent risks to it. Rumple didn't want Belle to be hurt.

"Really? How do you breathe in this?" Belle asked tugging at the vest when she came to stop in front of him. "It's too tight..." she made a show of complaining when all she wanted to do as keep this vest as close to her as she could. It smelled like him. There was a faint trace of him to it. She could almost feel as if he hands were upon her. The thought made her light headed.

"How do you breathe in a corset?" Rumple replied with a smirk. "I don't really understand that." He meant it as a jibe, but he knew the moment he had spoken it left him wide open.

"Well, then perhaps you try one." Belle snapped playfully.

Rumple's hands shot out, touching her hips, and pinning her to the pillar by the door. "Do you want me to loosen it?" He asked, his tone taking on a decidedly dark note. The air between them changed. It was still playful, but charged with tension. A tension he was going to play with. "Hmmm? Do you want me... to?" He asked again drawing his hands up to where the laces were. His fingers toyed with them.

Belle gasped at the feeling of his hands on her waist. Hadn't she been just fantasizing about that a few moments ago? Had she strayed into a waking dream where Rumple was doing just as she wanted? "How loose are you going to make it?" Belle replied in a ragged gasp. Her chest rose and fell with an effort to breath that had nothing to do with the vest she was wearing.

"What do you want me to do, Belle?" Rumple had his lips dangerously close to hers. They were practically breathing the same air. It was intoxicating. Yes, he was the master of this Castle, of this land, but he was slowly becoming her willing slave. He would do anything just to see her smile, to see her laugh, to make her flush crimson with desire. This wasn't a game to him.

"I want you…" She gasped as his fingers dug into her side. "I want…" Belle could hardly think past the feeling of him so close. His warmth came through the leather of the pants she was wearing. Now more than ever she was convinced that she was wearing his clothing. The pants, the shirt, the vest; all of it branded her with his phantom touch. "I want you to teach me." She managed to say this time.

"Then," Rumple drew his hands down to her hips, gave them a possessive toke, before he pulled back from her and went to the doors. He had come so very close to kissing her. Rumple felt that her kiss would be his undoing before he had set his plan in motion. Right now he needed power as he was playing a long term chess game with the whole of the Enchanted Forest. "Follow me." He purred using magic to open the doors.


End file.
